Chidambaram slams Switzerland for non-cooperation over Swiss bank accounts of Indians

Finance minister P Chidambaram has slammed Switzerland for declining the governments' request to share information about the bank accounts of Indians in the country. He threatened to raise this issue at international foras, including G20, PTI reports.

Chidambaram in a letter to his Swiss counterpart Eveline Widmer Schlumpf minced no words and asked Schlumpf not to forget the April 2009 declaration adopted by G20 leaders which stated the "era of bank secrecy is over."

He asserted in his letter that delay on Switzerland's part could force India to take tough action and New Delhi might declare the country a non-cooperative jurisdiction, the report said.

He went on to accuse Switzerland of failing to honour the terms of the Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement (DTAA) between the two nations.

"Switzerland's refusal to provide information to India and other countries on the grounds that the source of the information requested is based on 'stolen data' means that, in practice, Switzerland still believes in bank secrecy and is therefore not in tune with the modern era," he wrote in the letter dated 13 March.

"If information continues to be denied to India under DTAC (Double Taxation Avoidance Convention), the Government of India will be constrained to take a position in the global forum," added the letter.